Somehow, We're Standing Here
by Strawberry Eggs
Summary: In the last battle against Earth, Hibiki finds himself with a song stuck in his head. It's hardly the time, yet it feels strangely appropriate. Oneshot, a bit of impiled HxD.


Yay! After reading so many great Vandread stories, I'm finally getting around to writing my own! Heh, this'll throw my Girl Got Game and Tales of Symphonia fans for a loop. XP

Well, it's not much. It's a one-shot songfic, a third-person limited of Hibiki's thoughts before and during the final battle. This takes places during the last part of the series, so if you haven't seen Vandread in its entirety DO NOT READ IT! That is unless you don't mind spoilers… The song is "Evolution" by J-Pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki. I'm using the translations since not everyone understands Japanese and I'd figure it'd be unnecessarily long is I put both the lyrics and the translations. This translation is not my own, I got it from the fan site Divine Ayu, which I have a link to in my profile.

It's has a bit of a retelling of the events of the end, but its main focus is on Hibiki's thoughts and reflections, all to the song "Evolution" (which is an incredible song by the way. If you can, check it out ;) ). I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

"I'll fight to keep the river of life following on!"

That speech the boy made, the Tarakan with dark blue hair, moved everyone who could hear it. Even the Paksis felt more confident.

Hibiki's Vanguard launched from the _Nirvana_, quickly combining with Dita's Dread. Rebecca's ship the _Paraiso_ stayed, not listening to the captain's order to return to the hideout. Soon several other fleets and familiar characters joined them: Rabat along with some of the Telepaths form the hidden planet and Patch and Rizu from the Mission; a fleet from Mellanus; a flagship from an ex-Tarak fleet; a squadron of attack vanguards; and the Mejare Border Guard. Even Gosconge made a remarkable "return from the dead", coming with a repaired Harvester Flagship. All of them had answered Hibiki's call in the battle against Earth's oncoming fleet.

A smile was on the boy's face. He had to admit, he felt a little embarrassed while giving the speech. After seeing so many with the will to fight, he was glad he did. He had always wanted to do something more than be another Third-Class Citizen, but he never imagined anything like this. It was the final assault against Earth.

_Hm_? Hibiki thought as a slow tune began to play through his head. W_hy. . .this wasn't the time for this. . ._

And yet. . . the song was strangely appropriate. He heard it a few times before. It was a favorite among the crew, especially for that odd activity they called karaoke. He had to admit, it was catchy. They never had such music on Tarak; it was all war or patriotic songs. He knew the title too: "Evolution".

_It's true, isn't it?_

_Is seems as though we're aiming for a new century. It's miraculous._

_This is something you can only taste once._

_Let's remember one more time._

Yes, they were aiming for a new century, a real future. So much had changed since he, Duero and Bart were captured they these women pirates and sent clear across the galaxy. After seeing the women for the first time, then in those bizarre suits, he thought he was goner for sure. Hibiki was extremely surprised when he saw the first one without the helmet. She wasn't huge and brutish like like how women were always depicted. She shared many similarities with any normal man.

Yes, it was the woman currently sitting on his lap right now. The one with very long red hair and large blue eyes. The one he felt. . .

_On the day we arrived on this earth_

_we were somehow happy_

_and somehow it hurt_

_we were crying_

_Wow yeah, wow yeah, wow wow yeah_

A huge explosion suddenly flashed, seemingly tearing a rip through space. Once it died down, two huge Harvester Flagships could be seen heading toward the planets, the third having been destroyed by Tarak's mines. Even with two, hundreds, if not thousands of Cube-types and other fighters were released, forming several of the fake Vandreads.

_Time to get this started! _Hibiki thought

_Reality is a traitor, it's easy_

_to misjudge things so with your own two eyes_

_please decide the worth of this place._

_Do it with your own standards._

It must've been what the women referred to as having a "song stuck in your head". It sure felt that way as it refused to leave his head. But it was just so. . .fitting. Was it no wonder that it was playing through his head like that? It didn't interrupt his fighting one bit as he and Dita destroyed several Cube-types and fake Vandreads with ease.

He really had changed so much, and for the better. After having been taught much of his life that women were the enemy, it was largely thanks to them that he became the man he was right then and there.

_You're right grandpa, _he thought, _friends are like mirrors. I didn't just prove my existence, I found myself. . . Geez, that sounded cheesy. . ._

_We've arrived in this kind of time._

_But somehow we'll die._

_So somehow we're standing here _

_and we're living through today._

_Wow yeah, wow yeah, wow wow yeah_

Suddenly a copy _Nirvana_ came at the teenage boy and girl, barely avoiding the machines' laser when Meia and Valor aided them in escaping it. He and Meia then combined, forming the extremely fast bird-like machine.

_We've arrived on this kind of world._

_Somehow I'm very happy_

_Somehow it hurts a lot._

_While Crying at the top of my lungs_

_Wow yeah, wow yeah, wow wow yeah_

It must be revolting to Tarakans, and probably Mejerians for his Vanguard to come together with the three women's dreads. By now it was natural to the van pilot, as natural as having women for friends. It must be true then, that men and women once lived together. Sure things were rocky in the beginning, but by now they showed they can get along.

It's weird how much you can think in the heat of battle AND have a song stuck in your head.

_I've arrived in this kind of time_

_but I met you._

_(I've arrived in this kind of time_

_but I met you.)_

_I've arrived in this kind of world_

_but I met you._

_(I've arrived in this kind of world_

_but I met you.)_

Then IT came. An enormous ship shaped much like a Harvester Flagship, except it was mostly red. It was the carrier of the RED Paksis itself. It loomed forward slowly, but slow in the same way a tank was slow, a tank capable of destroying planets.

_On the day we arrived on this earth_

_we were somehow happy_

_and somehow it hurt_

_we were crying_

_Wow yeah, wow yeah, wow wow yeah_

"So that's the top dog. It's not so scary," Hibiki said.

Jura's dread combined with Hibiki, forming the Red Claw. Encasing the mech in a barrier, they flew toward. The giant ship, Dita, Meia, Barnette and Valor's dreads following closely behind.

The monstrous machine fired a powerful red beam, the same one capable of breaking apart Vandreads.

"Jura, are you alright," Barnette asked the blond.

"Yeah. . .somehow. . ."

"Damn you!" Hibiki growled.

"Now it's time for Vandread Pyoro!" the Navi robot said with determination. He had jumped form Jura's dread to Hibiki's vanguard after they were split.

"Forget it! That's a weird name!" The dark-blue-haired boy growled.

"I like it. . ."

The three dreads, vanguard and Navi robot came together and in a flashed combined into the incredibly powerful silver robot, the Super Vandread.

_We've arrived in this kind of time._

_But somehow we'll die._

_So somehow we're standing here _

_and we're living through today._

Easily ripping through the smaller enemy forces the five of them made their way toward the ship, accelerating when several red lasers attempted to hit it.

A single powerful laser shot toward them again. This time Jura slammed her fist onto the control panel, firing their own blue laser. Without much effort it pushed the red beam back before engulfing the ship itself.

"Is that it. . ." Hibiki said under his breath. _There was no way it could've been that easy. . . _

Sure enough once the smoke cleared, the Planet Crusher ship was still intact, save for the outgrowth of a red crystalline structure around its "mouth"

"We found it," Pyoro said a nervously, "the scariest of them all!"

Indeed. . . this battle was certainly not going to be easy. Not for the first time, they could've been fighting their last battle.

But this was not going to be it. He was going to protect. . . they were going to protect them all. Somehow they were standing there and they were going to keep it that way.

_Wow yeah, wow yeah, wow wow yeah_


End file.
